All in all, I plan to have at least 20000 AV in the mountains by the time I am done.

An interesting reaction (to soon to call it a solution) to the "Land War in China" problem. What are you going to do with your Air Force? If you move them to one or two bases they will get bombed to bits and pieces.

Bill: I'll be disbanding most of the groups that can't upgrade. I don't see any point in keeping the biplanes flying or spending PP on the Soviet bomber only groups. Most or all other groups will be bought out so they can replenish planes in Indian bases and keep safe from bombing there. We'll see what chances they'll get to fight from either Chinese or Burmese bases.

9th of February 1943

Guadalcanal Chikuma gets moved off the sunk list, but a Jake shows up on the ground losses, talk about mixed signals. An escorting DD was also hit yesterday and is now reported sunk. It was a Shiratsuyu-class destroyer, I'd rate those pretty high up, based on high endurance and decent AA armament.

Joseph has indicated he has had some problems getting bombardment runs to work in the Solomons, something to do with waypoints getting in the way of the bombardment routine. Now that he has this figured out I'm expecting bombardments to shut down Lunga again. (Last night 4 BB went on a run up the slot, but didn't shoot at the island, so the Japanese navy is still strong in the area.)

West Oz A CV raid is developing on the Western seaboard of Oz. On the 12th, a sub attacked a group of AO, guarded by cruisers and DD. The next day, a small strike struck a Port Hedland convoy and sank an xAKL. Perth harbour is being evacuated for the time being, and CT fuel convoys kept in Southern Australian ports or running for maps edge.

Guadalcanal Well, Joseph certainly worked out his problems with bombardments, on the 10th Yamashiro, Fuso, Kirishima and Hiei bombed the island. On the 11th, Yamato, Musashi, Haruna and Kongo did the same. The defenders got a days respite, after which Hyuga and Ise joined 2 BB of the first group. Then on the 14th the second group came out again... This has obviously stopped all fort building and the airfield is barely operational. I'm trying to figure out how he's organizing the runs, the Yamato and Musashi need either Rabaul to reload, or a very big AKE, but if he's using one of those it's at a level 0 port, because I've reconned everything else.

Allied counter-operations have been negligible since the sinking of Chikuma, 2x2 DD groups have raided between Munda and Guadalcanal. The first group of 2 Fletchers failed to find anything, but the second group of 2 Porters had a more lively raid. First they sank an E on ASW duty after which they ran into an amphibious group including LSD ships. Unfortunately the Japanese spotted better and the group evaded combat. They staid in the Solomons during the day for some reason, but no strikes were launched against them. The next night they tried raiding Munda, but ran into a CA/CL force which ran them off with light damage to one the DDs.

This discovery of the amphibs has left us with an interesting situation, at first I thought he was reinforcing other islands, but now it seems as if he is actively reinforcing his forces at Tassafaronga and his troops are marching on Lunga ! There is still a good-sized armada at Tassafaronga and I'm pondering whether or not to throw the remaining CVs at them ... The situations is as follows.

The CVs had left port a couple of days ago, as I was contemplating a strike against Munda. This put my CVs within a day of striking at 'Canal. This is very fortunate, as Joseph is unlikely to expect a strike tomorrow. If my CVs were at Noumea, they could've done this as well, but from Sydney or Auckland (more likely bases to refit after the Guadalcanal invasion) they would've been one or two days further away. As you can see I'm planning to put them within 6 hexes of Tassafaronga, to allow my TB to strike as well. This spot would also keep my 12 hexes from the nearest Netty base, Shortlands.

What do I fear, that this is an ambush and that CVs are hiding around Shortlands or to the North of the Solomons and are planning to spring forward to ambush my CV. Joseph must know that his amphibious ships and cruisers are good bait. The day that I am ahead of a reasonable schedule might be my saviour in that case, he'd hold back for one more day and then send his carriers to the 'Canal area so they could strike against CVs coming from whichever direction. He could sprint into the Coral Sea of course to try and catch me a day before I launch my strikes, but that seems unlikely as that'd only guard against an approach from the South and not from the East. I'm going to cast the die and launch 1 day of strikes before retreating in case this is an ambush, may a couple of cruisers pay with their lives !

I'm turning myself in to the Kangeroo court. Joseph thought it was my turn to have bad luck from game mechanics, as apparently my CVs got in a prime position to strike at his transports and surface cover but failed to launch any strikes. Turns out that I stood down the carrier planes somewhere along the line and didn't check them this turn. We also narrowly avoided a CV battle (or slaughter given my orders), but I'm not sure whether or not his Betties got any hits in.

So, what kind of swear words am I allowed to use without getting banned from the forum ... ?

Solomons No damage to the carriers and they make good their escape the next day. Battleships keep visiting Lunga at night, but at least he's toned it down to 4 BB. The division at Lunga is getting battered, about 20% disablements. Some other smaller units are in even worse shape.

I'm trying to figure out how his BB raids are done, it seems like he is using full speed runs, with BB turning up at Choiseul Bay often after a raid. Unfortunately there is not much I can use to attack him there apart from my carriers and even they would be in a lot of danger so close to Munda and Shortlands. Anyone has experience with this sort of situation ? I'm wondering whether throwing a bunch of cruiser TFs at him might slow him down enough for a strike from the carriers in the morning.

The DD on the map are a 2 ships looking for gaps in the air search cover, but so far no luck. They did get attacked by 20 Vals, but no hits were scored.

Some information that might be interesting, Japanese CV strenght should stand at 7 CV, 4 CVL and 4 CVE for a total of 700 Carrier aircraft. Against that the Allies can put 4 CV and 3 CVE for 440 planes. In a month I'll have 2 CV and a CVE returned from the shipyards, giving a total of 650 planes.

Gillberts Not much battle going on here, but the Allies are slowly advancing. Medium bombers from Tabit seem to have bombed out the defenders of Beru, Nonouti and Abemama. Barge transport is bringing engineers, aviation support and some engineers to Nonouti to build up a second airfield. Abemama should soon follow, in a couple of days troops will be moved to Tabit from Pago Pago and from then on out with barges to the invasion beaches.

The retreat in China is going according to plan, tank units tried to get around my large stack falling back on Kunming, but a 1000 AV stack was put in place to counter just such a move. The main stack is now only 46 miles from the crossroads and should reach it in time. This should hold off almost any direct attack on the city. In the North, 6000 AV are staying in front of the pursuing Japanese and should reach the minor road to Tsuyung.

At the moment West of China is relatively lightly defended. Some 400 AV are defending Paoshan against incursions from Burma. Tsuyung is defended from airdrops by an Indian brigade.

Another Allied offensive has started in Burma, this time the goals is to completely take over the central plains. The below map gives an estimation of the location of Japanese divisions (A total of about 6000 AV). Some 3700 AV, including almost 1000 AV worth of armour will cross the rivers. Shwebo will be held by 1000+ AV (including the airtansportable parts of an American division) behind level 8 forts.

The offensive is not without risk, my forces on the other bank will be outnumbered, and I'll need to take a number of bases to cut off Mandalay, spreading troops. To win this battle, the airforce will need to make a great contribution. Anything outside the forts of Mandalay will be bombed. The airfield of Taung Gyi and Tongou will be captured if possible to protect my own forces from the same, or suppressed by heavies if this is not possible.

The dashed line is a test air attack by 105 RAF and USAAF Medium bombers, which obliterated a base force causing 600 casualties.

Supply is no issue as long as I don't get the ground routes cut off. This game predates supply movement caps, so I can get almost everything I need by playing with the supply draw buttons. I have quite a bit of them at the ready though, transporting infantry of an American Division, so if I get units cut off I can support them.

Karsten: Thanks, feel free to post here if you've any questions or comments

A small mistake in the dates earlier, we just finished the 27th.

Burma An air offensive was launched against Taung Gyi, one of 2 active lvl 4 airfields. (The other is Tongou, Magwe is at 4 but has little to no air support) The Japanese lose a hundred fighters, mainly Oscars. The Allies lose 35 fighters, 12 heavies and 35 medium bombers. The field is 40% damaged. The allied bombers are hit hard, but they'll press on until the field is closed.

Yep it's PDU off. Cuts on both ends, off the +- 150 Japanese planes there were a 100 Oscars. On the other hand both USAAF fighter groups in Burma are equipped with P-40 variants while there are lots of P-38 doing not much at all in SWPac. (Had one P38-E squadron, but they came in first and lost 50% of their number and I'm out of replacements.)